Life-Cycle Assessment
Life-cycle assessment, or LCA, is the science of quantifying environmental impacts through the entire process of creating, transporting, using, and disposing of a product or material. Environmental impacts assessed include things like embodied carbon, smog-creation potential, and fossil fuel consumption.
For building professionals, LCA comes into play in two main ways. To understand the impacts of specific products, look to an environmental product declaration (EPD). To understand the impacts of an entire building, a whole-building LCA is required. Specialized tools are used to perform whole-building LCA.
Life-Cycle Assessment
Deep Dives
Get up to speed on complex topics. You can also earn CEUs and download PDF Spotlight Reports.
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Quick Takes
Jump straight to the essentials with these short explanations of green building concepts.
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In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
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UL, USGBC Team Up to Standardize LCA Rules
News Brief
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Retrofits (Usually) Greener Than New Construction, Study Says
News Analysis
Building reuse has environmental benefits over new construction, but there are important exceptions and caveats.
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Air Dryer Claims Lower Impact Than Paper Towels
News Analysis
If you thought paper towels were a better option than the hand dryer, think again.
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Life-Cycle Buzz: BEES Now Available for All Operating Systems
News Brief
Perspective
Thought-provoking opinions from the most trusted minds in sustainability.
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Learning Resources
Syllabus supplements and CEU content, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.
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- You can require or exclude terms using + and -: big +blue drop will require a match on blue while big blue -drop will exclude results that contain drop.